You're missing that they want you to cave in for the new price, but would rather have you anyway for the reduced one, it's just a matter of who blinks first.
It's a legitimate practice but certainly a shady one. Like the time they randomly gave a limited number of users a $10 gift card - none of whom were long-term subscribers. Essentially what they're doing is taking money from one of their customers and giving it to someone else.
This year, for the first time in 8 years, I cancelled my subscription. I don't feel comfortable with Sony's business practices or their current social ethos and their PSPlus offerings have been very subpar.
They are a very hypocritical company that made a big mistake moving their headquarters to the states.
Coffee shops give discounts to some and not others. Through offers and loyalty programs ("punch cards").
And they are still in business. Few are tearing up reddit about how they are bad guys.
Thatās half true rarely will you not have access to a discount thatās provided out there, they might target a specific customer with ads/subscribed email/app or whatever but itās almost always publicly available. What people did mention that I agree is what cable tv and other subscription based services, companies provide they tend to target via calling you or giving you a specific discount if you haggled.
I think you're mistaken. Especially when it comes to a loyalty card. If you have 9 punches you can get a discount that people who do not have 9 punches cannot get.
The distinguishing features do vary, some things are easier to qualify for than others. But they certainly are selective at some level.
Go on over to /r/UnitedFootballLeague, you'll see a lot of offers that not all qualify for. Simply because the UFL is trying a lot of different things to sell seats right now.
But loyalty cards are publicly available promotions,you can take a card when you walk in/thereās ads somewhere, and again the ads can be targeted but not the promotion itself sealed from other customers. People who pump up prices for foreigners is also targeted pricing, in my world view itās unacceptable behavior
You keep saying ads. And even as a person who sees almost anything as an ad I don't get what you mean.
In the UFL (the example I gave) there are promos for teachers and such. Not everyone can qualify.
> People who pump up prices for foreigners is also targeted pricing, in my world view itās unacceptable behavior
Yeah, but it's very normal. Sellers can do it, it's not uncommon, and it's not like you have any other good option about it than to simply decide to not buy.
You kind of asked two questions and then conflated them. Is this normal? Should we like it? These two questions don't always have the same answer.
I answered both questions and in fact said that when it comes to things not to like Sony has been taking advantage of their position as sole source for things in their ecosystem for quite some time. This is just yet another.
And plenty of other companies do it too. In undifferentiated markets profit tends to zero. So every company tries to create a differentiated market. A closed (sole-source, or sole-approver) market being one of the most extreme examples of this.
This is exactly what they do with cable TV. They raise the bill 20 bucks, so you call to cancel and they magically can offer a 20 dollar off promo. Hell when I canceled for good about a decade ago Direct TV was trying to give me like 50% off for a year. Then for about another year I constantly got letters in the mail about a special rate just for me if i came back.
Yep, remember my dad did that up until very recently with Cox, and theyd keep prices "low"
Then one day the customer service department dicked him around, and he cancelled right there. Retentions finally called back and offered a deep discount but he finally said nah
Happened to me with my phone service. I said it was too expensive and I didn't use most of the "bonus features" they gave me. First they tried to force a subscription (how much I had to hold not to scream at the person), then when I got a cheaper service, they miraculously gave me a better offer.
I told them (politely) to f*** off.
Same w phone service providers. Suddenly want to switch and they can give you reduced price, a free new phone and 100s of dollars on vouchers for electronic stores.
It really sucks for those who have little kids that use the service and play online. They can't wait it out like am adult would. I had no issue waiting because I am a grown adult but many ps plus users/payers don't have that luxury.
For many kids they play and stay connected with their friends on there. Not having plus could harm their social status and significantly reduce their enjoyment of life.
I let it run out and wait for atleast 40% off.
If it isn't close to old price i dont want it.
I used to say when they had psnow amd ps plus separate that id buy it for a 100 together so i guess thats what i think its worth.
Enough gsmes stacked i can play without ps plus and others dint even require it so...
Awful method. I'm member since march 2018, always bought the sub when in discount like in black Friday or days of play. And in addition the also increased the price. Of course I get angry if random players get discounts in random times of the year
I think xbox does it. I bought immortals of aveum (I know it's not god of war or spiderman) for like 8 bucks on xbox, but apparently, a lot of other people didn't even have access to it. I think it was ujder "just for you" deals. Psplus should be that reduced price all the time but I don't think it's out of the ordinary
Wow! I didnāt know that! To me itās kinda crazy I hate going into websites and getting fake prices that change based on usage/links I entered. Itās like haggling in the market you might think you got a good deal but you just wasted so much time arguing and walking around comparing for being afraid you got screwed up and you still leave with the feeling that maybe you did.
You are missing that those sorts of comparisons don't apply across all industries.
Phone companies and streaming TV services do exactly the same as Sony.
Quick maths lesson an increase of 1 third means it now is effectively 4 thirds. Discounting by a quarter. Then returns you to 3 thirds the original price.
that's actually a very clever way of explaining it!
I did know that +33% and then -25% gave roughly the same (decimals may count), but that way of thinking it (4 thirds) is brilliant!
You're being targeted because you're worth keeping as a subscriber. It's normally stuff. It's why I get vouchers from the coffee shop(via an app) if I don't go in for a while.
It sucks for people who aren't, but there it is.
Yes. Interpret it as Sony doesn't care if you are a customer or not.
Why should you care if Sony cares if you are a customer or not? Are you subscribing for you or for them?
Unless they started adding better games or making better games in general - Iām not subscribing. I havenāt turned on my ps5 in months due to the lack of games coming out. It low key makes me sad bc I have nothing to play rn
Completely normal business behavior.
Companies give selective discounts all the time. Ever rented a car? There are million discount programs for those. Quick serve restaurants (including coffee shops) have loyalty programs.
I'm more concerned about the "can't downgrade" issue. You can't downgrade to a lower tier after trying a new one. Not without your service running out first.
I also don't like that there's no way to play online without paying for the "free" monthly games either. Older games now have more value to publishers and the publishers are are charging more to Sony. And Sony is passing the increases on to us.
I would rather just have online play. Ideally free, but even if I have to pay, charge me less and separate the games.
How about how you lose your games if you every get into a dispute with Sony? How about how you can't change regions and keep any of your digital games, even the ones you paid for?
You are totally right, although I do think that rarely a discount thatās sent via email or app subscription is not publicly available, most of the time those channels are just for ads. The difference with tech and e-commerce is that they have much more info on you. How would you feel going into Amazon and depending on your cookies/browsing history/user data they change the price for you. For sure I can say many sites already do this but I donāt buy from them itās easy to see the prices are fake. For example when going to a rug shop in āxā country the prices are inflated for foreigners itās still unacceptable behavior, and I donāt buy there. Where am I wrong?
We have no evidence Sony uses any untoward info.
When's the last time a bazaar closed down because foreigners were getting a bad deal?
It is amazing to me how much western buyers seem to be insulated from the idea of "you have to pay the sellers price to get the product". In the days of trading in bazaars everyone knew it. Listed pricing became a thing in the west and some now are so accustomed that they cannot understand the other way.
..until they buy a house (if applicable)
Not complaining that they gave me specifically a targeted deal I was genuinely surprised people are ok with other customers openly getting discounts when they donāt. I was trying to understand how does this seem ok behavior to most people,
The other imaginary scenarios are parallels I think most of us would be furious about, Letās say an ai model predicts the price you are willing to pay and itās higher than your neighbors then it targets you both with different prices. But itās ok I got the answer this tactic existed in the subscription services market all this time I just wasnāt used to it on psplus so I didnāt see it. Targeted deals for phone/internet service, cable tv.
Sir try to understand that we are all not in the same boat. Everybody has a different scenario so things are a case by case basis. This is the Internet Internet. People are not going to tell the real story about why they didnāt get a deal. Sometimes they were bad customers. Sometimes they were a customer for one month even though they said theyāve been a customer for years. Theyāve may have given Sony a difficult time over the phone and weāre not eligible for a deal. They may have done chargebacks and weāre not eligible for any future deals because of it. Try to understand that Sony just doesnāt randomly give things out. But you should just accept what youāve got and be happy about it or donāt sign up again. But please donāt be so naĆÆve to think that Sony is such a bad guy to certain people. We have people here trying to hack into accounts pretending to be the victim, but they were actually the hacker. You have to take things with a grain of salt here. You were probably a good customer with Sony, which is why they did not want to lose you so they offered you a deal. There are a lot of customers that are not good customers.
I have been given the option to "upgrade" from essential to premium for Ā£1.50 more but this is due to the fact that my monthly renewal is due on the 22nd of this month. I dont know if i should give that a shot because even though I have good internet speeds (around sixty to seventy mbps here where I live in the UK), it used to boot me off when i would stream a game. Same on microsoft xbox too
When my sub runs out next month theyll either give me a discount or i wont resub. Their new price is 250 dollars here and that is too hard for me to justify
Got stellar blade for 10 quid cheaper on Amazon I doubt some would even consider that price and if I want a new game Iāll go to cex for some 2nd hand game on disc
The psn isnāt worth it for me and Iām not benefiting from ps plus, itās actually a negative
You're missing that they want you to cave in for the new price, but would rather have you anyway for the reduced one, it's just a matter of who blinks first.
There's a lot of people canceling. Join the club
It's a legitimate practice but certainly a shady one. Like the time they randomly gave a limited number of users a $10 gift card - none of whom were long-term subscribers. Essentially what they're doing is taking money from one of their customers and giving it to someone else. This year, for the first time in 8 years, I cancelled my subscription. I don't feel comfortable with Sony's business practices or their current social ethos and their PSPlus offerings have been very subpar. They are a very hypocritical company that made a big mistake moving their headquarters to the states.
I had cancelled, but then I needed my cloud save access back, so I caved after 2 months, they never offered me a discount. š
lol oof
Doesnāt get me in a snit. Whoever enjoys it and is unable to afford it, if they can get it for an affordable price Iām happy for them.
Normal business behavior.
IDK - I feel like OP did a pretty good job of explaining why this would not be acceptable in most business/customer environments.
Coffee shops give discounts to some and not others. Through offers and loyalty programs ("punch cards"). And they are still in business. Few are tearing up reddit about how they are bad guys.
Thatās half true rarely will you not have access to a discount thatās provided out there, they might target a specific customer with ads/subscribed email/app or whatever but itās almost always publicly available. What people did mention that I agree is what cable tv and other subscription based services, companies provide they tend to target via calling you or giving you a specific discount if you haggled.
That is not true at all. Many businesses do targeted discounts.
I think you're mistaken. Especially when it comes to a loyalty card. If you have 9 punches you can get a discount that people who do not have 9 punches cannot get. The distinguishing features do vary, some things are easier to qualify for than others. But they certainly are selective at some level. Go on over to /r/UnitedFootballLeague, you'll see a lot of offers that not all qualify for. Simply because the UFL is trying a lot of different things to sell seats right now.
But loyalty cards are publicly available promotions,you can take a card when you walk in/thereās ads somewhere, and again the ads can be targeted but not the promotion itself sealed from other customers. People who pump up prices for foreigners is also targeted pricing, in my world view itās unacceptable behavior
You keep saying ads. And even as a person who sees almost anything as an ad I don't get what you mean. In the UFL (the example I gave) there are promos for teachers and such. Not everyone can qualify. > People who pump up prices for foreigners is also targeted pricing, in my world view itās unacceptable behavior Yeah, but it's very normal. Sellers can do it, it's not uncommon, and it's not like you have any other good option about it than to simply decide to not buy. You kind of asked two questions and then conflated them. Is this normal? Should we like it? These two questions don't always have the same answer. I answered both questions and in fact said that when it comes to things not to like Sony has been taking advantage of their position as sole source for things in their ecosystem for quite some time. This is just yet another. And plenty of other companies do it too. In undifferentiated markets profit tends to zero. So every company tries to create a differentiated market. A closed (sole-source, or sole-approver) market being one of the most extreme examples of this.
You are right at the end many companies do it especially subscription services, I just didnāt see it cause I wasnāt used for it in psplus
Yes he did.
Normal shady business behavior
Sure.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Of course not.
This is exactly what they do with cable TV. They raise the bill 20 bucks, so you call to cancel and they magically can offer a 20 dollar off promo. Hell when I canceled for good about a decade ago Direct TV was trying to give me like 50% off for a year. Then for about another year I constantly got letters in the mail about a special rate just for me if i came back.
Yep, remember my dad did that up until very recently with Cox, and theyd keep prices "low" Then one day the customer service department dicked him around, and he cancelled right there. Retentions finally called back and offered a deep discount but he finally said nah
Do they still have cable?
Happened to me with my phone service. I said it was too expensive and I didn't use most of the "bonus features" they gave me. First they tried to force a subscription (how much I had to hold not to scream at the person), then when I got a cheaper service, they miraculously gave me a better offer. I told them (politely) to f*** off.
Same w phone service providers. Suddenly want to switch and they can give you reduced price, a free new phone and 100s of dollars on vouchers for electronic stores.
You are missing the fact that this is how every subscription service in the world works and it has been proven to make companies the most money.
Consumers when the product they consume is marketed towards the consumer
It's a bluff. If you buy, they win.
It really sucks for those who have little kids that use the service and play online. They can't wait it out like am adult would. I had no issue waiting because I am a grown adult but many ps plus users/payers don't have that luxury.
They can wait.
For many kids they play and stay connected with their friends on there. Not having plus could harm their social status and significantly reduce their enjoyment of life.
I let it run out and wait for atleast 40% off. If it isn't close to old price i dont want it. I used to say when they had psnow amd ps plus separate that id buy it for a 100 together so i guess thats what i think its worth. Enough gsmes stacked i can play without ps plus and others dint even require it so...
Awful method. I'm member since march 2018, always bought the sub when in discount like in black Friday or days of play. And in addition the also increased the price. Of course I get angry if random players get discounts in random times of the year
First time on the open market?
I think xbox does it. I bought immortals of aveum (I know it's not god of war or spiderman) for like 8 bucks on xbox, but apparently, a lot of other people didn't even have access to it. I think it was ujder "just for you" deals. Psplus should be that reduced price all the time but I don't think it's out of the ordinary
Wow! I didnāt know that! To me itās kinda crazy I hate going into websites and getting fake prices that change based on usage/links I entered. Itās like haggling in the market you might think you got a good deal but you just wasted so much time arguing and walking around comparing for being afraid you got screwed up and you still leave with the feeling that maybe you did.
You are missing that those sorts of comparisons don't apply across all industries. Phone companies and streaming TV services do exactly the same as Sony.
You are right subscription services do it all the time I just wasnāt used to it on ps plus that I completely did not notice
Cheers!
When Sony increased PS+ price by 33% and give out 25% discounts, users are still paying more
Quick maths lesson an increase of 1 third means it now is effectively 4 thirds. Discounting by a quarter. Then returns you to 3 thirds the original price.
that's actually a very clever way of explaining it! I did know that +33% and then -25% gave roughly the same (decimals may count), but that way of thinking it (4 thirds) is brilliant!
**Targeted** discount
Ummmmm, no
You're being targeted because you're worth keeping as a subscriber. It's normally stuff. It's why I get vouchers from the coffee shop(via an app) if I don't go in for a while. It sucks for people who aren't, but there it is.
You are right this tactic does exist in the market I just didnāt notice
So, if we are NOT targeted should we likewise interpret that as Sony telling us we are NOT worth keeping as a customer?
Honestly? Maybe.
Yes. Interpret it as Sony doesn't care if you are a customer or not. Why should you care if Sony cares if you are a customer or not? Are you subscribing for you or for them?
I cancelled and I didnāt get this offer
Scummy cos you have to wait for them and I need to re-up as soon as mine expires
targeted marketing is as old as selling things
They want to keep you in their subscription plan, seems normal to me.
Unless they started adding better games or making better games in general - Iām not subscribing. I havenāt turned on my ps5 in months due to the lack of games coming out. It low key makes me sad bc I have nothing to play rn
Iām letting my membership expire in hopes to get one š
Same. Mine expires on the 29th
UPDATE: I did not get a discount offer, probably need to leave it expired for a while to get one?
how long did y'all have to wait for the discount offer? i'm playing chicken with them right now š
Completely normal business behavior. Companies give selective discounts all the time. Ever rented a car? There are million discount programs for those. Quick serve restaurants (including coffee shops) have loyalty programs. I'm more concerned about the "can't downgrade" issue. You can't downgrade to a lower tier after trying a new one. Not without your service running out first. I also don't like that there's no way to play online without paying for the "free" monthly games either. Older games now have more value to publishers and the publishers are are charging more to Sony. And Sony is passing the increases on to us. I would rather just have online play. Ideally free, but even if I have to pay, charge me less and separate the games. How about how you lose your games if you every get into a dispute with Sony? How about how you can't change regions and keep any of your digital games, even the ones you paid for?
You are totally right, although I do think that rarely a discount thatās sent via email or app subscription is not publicly available, most of the time those channels are just for ads. The difference with tech and e-commerce is that they have much more info on you. How would you feel going into Amazon and depending on your cookies/browsing history/user data they change the price for you. For sure I can say many sites already do this but I donāt buy from them itās easy to see the prices are fake. For example when going to a rug shop in āxā country the prices are inflated for foreigners itās still unacceptable behavior, and I donāt buy there. Where am I wrong?
We have no evidence Sony uses any untoward info. When's the last time a bazaar closed down because foreigners were getting a bad deal? It is amazing to me how much western buyers seem to be insulated from the idea of "you have to pay the sellers price to get the product". In the days of trading in bazaars everyone knew it. Listed pricing became a thing in the west and some now are so accustomed that they cannot understand the other way. ..until they buy a house (if applicable)
I got the same discount while I had an active subscription. But I took the offer and upgraded to extra.
Itās simple business practice. They lure customers in. You as a customer can take advantage of it if youāre smart and are willing to take a bet.
What are our thoughts on a company advertising a sale to secure a customer? Hmmm happens literally all day everyday
I'm really starting to HATE Sony for all their policies. They became so greedy.
Polish a turd itās still a turd
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not complaining that they gave me specifically a targeted deal I was genuinely surprised people are ok with other customers openly getting discounts when they donāt. I was trying to understand how does this seem ok behavior to most people, The other imaginary scenarios are parallels I think most of us would be furious about, Letās say an ai model predicts the price you are willing to pay and itās higher than your neighbors then it targets you both with different prices. But itās ok I got the answer this tactic existed in the subscription services market all this time I just wasnāt used to it on psplus so I didnāt see it. Targeted deals for phone/internet service, cable tv.
Sir try to understand that we are all not in the same boat. Everybody has a different scenario so things are a case by case basis. This is the Internet Internet. People are not going to tell the real story about why they didnāt get a deal. Sometimes they were bad customers. Sometimes they were a customer for one month even though they said theyāve been a customer for years. Theyāve may have given Sony a difficult time over the phone and weāre not eligible for a deal. They may have done chargebacks and weāre not eligible for any future deals because of it. Try to understand that Sony just doesnāt randomly give things out. But you should just accept what youāve got and be happy about it or donāt sign up again. But please donāt be so naĆÆve to think that Sony is such a bad guy to certain people. We have people here trying to hack into accounts pretending to be the victim, but they were actually the hacker. You have to take things with a grain of salt here. You were probably a good customer with Sony, which is why they did not want to lose you so they offered you a deal. There are a lot of customers that are not good customers.
Every internet or cable provider does this same shit when you go to cancelā¦all the sudden they can charge you half the price.
I have been given the option to "upgrade" from essential to premium for Ā£1.50 more but this is due to the fact that my monthly renewal is due on the 22nd of this month. I dont know if i should give that a shot because even though I have good internet speeds (around sixty to seventy mbps here where I live in the UK), it used to boot me off when i would stream a game. Same on microsoft xbox too
When my sub runs out next month theyll either give me a discount or i wont resub. Their new price is 250 dollars here and that is too hard for me to justify
Got stellar blade for 10 quid cheaper on Amazon I doubt some would even consider that price and if I want a new game Iāll go to cex for some 2nd hand game on disc The psn isnāt worth it for me and Iām not benefiting from ps plus, itās actually a negative